A common problem shared by many is the difficulty in carrying large, heavy, and/or unusual shaped objects from one place to another. Recreational activities such as going to the beach, hiking, camping, skiing, in-line skating, to name a few, often require the user to transport equipment from a storage area to a site for use of the equipment, and then repeat the process when the activity is completed. A parent with small children may want to spend a day at the beach with the children; several beach chairs, a beach umbrella and a cooler may all be included in the supplies being carried by the parent, requiring several trips to and from the car or house. Obviously, the parent cannot leave the children alone at the beach while making the trips to and from the car or house; thus, both the parent and the children often must make the same journey to and from the car or house several times.
Some people have resorted to including a wagon with their regular beach equipment, allowing the user to load the wagon with the days equipment and reduce the number of trips to be made. While this is an adequate solution, the wagon takes up considerable storage space that could be used for packing other items; further, this solution does not lend itself to skiing, hiking or other activities in which long distances may have to be traversed as part of the activity.
Various devices have been invented in attempting to overcome the above-mentioned problems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,762 to Mendillo teaches a portable ski carrier that essentially comprises a dog leash with an S-hook on one end and a loop on the other end. The device is used by placing the loop end around the skis on one side of the ski bindings and then threading the S-hook through the loop until the loop end tightly engages the skis. The hook end is then wrapped around the opposite end of the skis on the other side of the bindings and the hook is engaged with the strap by threading the strap through the open end or the S-hook. U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,336 to Palz teaches another ski carrier in which carrying loops are disposed at each end of the strap. U.S. Pat. No. 3,257,054 to Miesel teaches still another ski carrier in which a flexible cable is fitted with a spring clamp at each end of the cable. The device is used by passing each end of the cable about the skiing equipment and securing the clamps on the cable to form loops at each end of the cable.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,286 to Newman, there is shown an adjustable carrying strap that can be folded into a small bundle or worn around the waist when not in use, and which can be used to carry a wide variety of items. The device of Newman includes two straps, connected to each other at adjustment points, and a connector is provided at each end of the device. Each connector comprises one free-sliding clip member and one D-ring that includes a gripping means to secure it in a normally stationary position. The D-ring is coupleable to the clip member. The location of the D-ring along the strap is fixed during use but is manually adjustable by manipulation of a bar slide associated with each D-ring, i.e., the D-ring/bar slide is not free-sliding. In use, the user must estimate the approximate location where the D-ring should be located to accommodate the object(s) to be carried and move the D-ring to that location. The object is then placed in a loop formed by connecting the clip member to the D-ring. If it is desired to tighten the loop around the object, the user must manipulate the bar slide associated with the D-ring to decrease the size of the loop. When the object has been transported to the desired location, the user must increase the size of the loop by manipulating the bar slide once again, and then either disconnect the clip member from the D-ring or slide the object out of the loop.
While the above devices provide adequate solutions to the problem of carrying items from one place to another, none of them provide the user with the capability of easy and automatic tightening of the carrying loops around the objects to be carried and easy loosening and unclipping of the carrying loops. For example, Newman requires manual manipulation to tighten the object being carried within the loops and requires additional manual manipulation to release the object from the tightened loop. Because of the bar slides used to tighten and loosen the loop, the tightening process is not easy and often requires the use of two hands. Further, the Newman device utilizes two straps and four different slide adjustment points, complicating the use and manufacture of the device. Palz utilizes closed loops that limit the use of the device to the carrying of objects that can fit in the loops and, in addition, requires manual tightening and untightening of the loops when it is desired to release the skis. Mendillo enables a slidable tightening or loosening of the end loops, but also requires the unthreading of the strap to disconnect the device from the object to be carried, i.e., there is no way of quickly releasing the loop end from the object to be carried. Further, each end of Mendillo has only a single sliding point for tightening of loosening, making the slidable tightening or loosening somewhat difficult. Likewise, the Meisel carrier has only a single slide point on each end, which makes the tightening and loosening of the end loops difficult. Nothing in the prior art teaches or suggests a device in which the user has the option of quickly loosening or tightening the end loops easily by using two free-sliding points on each end or quickly and easily opening both end loops.